May the Post be with You!

By U AC

Brief History

Long before your time, in 1872 to be exact, in the west­ernmost city of Sittway, there opened the very first post office, a precursor to the present-day Myanmar Post. Under colonial rules, the post was separated from British India with the crea­tion of Myanmar’s own Post and Telegraph administration.

Since April 2015, it has been existing as a separate entity for nearly eight years. It is solely owned by the government.

Changes in the recent past

The tracking of the articles (for delivery) already existed since 2009, albeit offline. A de­livery monitoring system started in 2017 where customers could start online viewing the status of their parcels via myanmarpost. com.mm. Just like post offices in other parts of the world, services for fund transfers, collection of behalf, bill payments, and pur­chasing of various forms of tick­ets are also available at the post. The other key revenue drivers include international mail and express mail services, where Myanmar Post has won awards at various levels on the quality of delivery management services.

The average customer pro­file has also changed following the entry of private delivery service providers into the mar­ket. A significant portion of the Post customers includes online shops, government departments and banks at present time.

Product development was one area where major changes occurred in the past ten years. Cash collection on behalf of on­line shops, smart lockers, smart envelopes, post boxes rental, expresses last mile delivery and being an agent for mobile pay­ment providers are new services introduced in the last decade. Meanwhile, the usual services continued; mail, parcels, stamps sale, etc.

The relevance and compet­itiveness

In the era of privatization and liberalization, Myanmar Post seems to be restricted in terms of staffing, funding and management compared to pri­vate players. From staff incen­tives to punishments, hiring to firing, and funding to spend, it is not hard to imagine why a gov­ernment entity would not even be half as agile or competitive as private enterprises.

Yet, when it comes to being accountable, secure and reach­ing out to unreachable places, Myanmar Post stands out from the crowd. Other than Myanmar Post and companies like rgo47, you would be hard-pressed to find someone to deliver a pack­age to Phakant, the jade mining

area in Kachin State. Its reli­ability and complete tracking ability continue to ensure that the Post is one most relied upon by businesses and the govern­ment, especially when it comes to sending important or expen­sive documents or parcels.

The events of the past two years have not been kind to Myanmar Post. It is one of the entities targeted by NNCP terrorists, particularly through online social punishment and cyberbullying, stirring up and sometimes forcing the popula­tion to discourage the use of the nation’s Posts. After losing about 80 per cent of its volume im­mediately after the government changeover (February 2021), it has now mildly recovered, get­ting back close to half of its 2020 numbers.

 

Something to you might not be aware

Do you know that Post offic­es offer volume discounts of up to 20 per cent, to organizations that send out multiple mails or parcels?

Do you know that the Post office sends for free to libraries for the books that you would like to donate to them? Or at minimal rates if you are a publisher?

Do you know that you can see your own postcode on the Post website?

With affordable prices, ex­tensive reach and continuous quality improvements, Myanmar Post would continue to stay rel­evant for many years to come and be of use to everyone every­where in Myanmar.